Results 6,721-6,740 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Job Creation Data (20 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: The exact information requested by the Deputy is not available. The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of estimates of employment in the State. The most recent figures available are for Q3 2014. Estimates of employment are produced by NUTS 3 Regions. The NUTS 3 Mid-West region includes Clare, Limerick City, Limerick County and North Tipperary. Due to methodology...

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Employment Data (20 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of estimates of employment in the State. The latest figures available from the QNHS are for Quarter 3 of 2014. Table 1a below shows the number of persons aged 15 years and over in employment in the Services sectors, classified by NACE Rev. 2. in Quarter 3 of each year from 2010 to 2014. Table 1b shows the annual change...

Order of Business (21 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: Deputy Brian Walsh is back.

Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014: Referral to Select Committee (22 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I move:That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality pursuant to 82A(3)(a) and 126(1) of the Standing Orders relative to Public Business and paragraph (8) of the Order of Reference of Select Committees.

Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: This is outrageous.

Order of Business (22 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: It is absolutely outrageous.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: My surname is "Kehoe".

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I would like to acknowledge that there is a third member of Government in the House. Deputy Rabbitte is also present. I understand that Deputy Rabbitte is still a member of the Government.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I want to acknowledge the Deputy for the work he has put into drafting and preparing this Bill.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: The Government will oppose this Bill for a number of reasons including the confusion that such a wording would introduce into our Constitution, the impact it could have on the working of this Parliament and the fact that it would not be in line with the Government's Oireachtas reform policies. Since taking office in March 2011, the Government has been more committed to reforming the...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: Surely an individual's conscience is a matter for that individual. Should we risk putting into our Constitution a provision that could force the courts into a position where they must decide what is, and what is not, a matter of conscience for an individual once they are elected to the Oireachtas? Are we going to ask the Judiciary, through the Constitution, to define in case law what is and...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I believe that this Bill and the wording it proposes to insert into the Constitution, while well-intentioned, is not suitable. A sentence from the basic law of the Federal Republic of Germany cannot be transplanted into the Irish Constitution without any attempt to recognise the very different political, social and institutional structures that exist in Ireland.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: The Bill may be read, by some, as an effort to remove the Whip from Parliament.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: The Whip system has Irish roots. Charles Stewart Parnell took a disorganised group of Irish MPs in the House of Commons and turned them into the Irish Party under a pledge to sit, act and vote together. He perfected the concept of the parliamentary party and Parnell-style parliamentary parties now exist in parliaments around the world. Some commentators, usually those with little or no...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: That is my mandate. The same is true of the Members of this House who stood under the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit Alliance or Socialist Party banners. The voluntary nature of the Whip system has been seen repeatedly in this Chamber since 1922. Deputies who have put their names before the public as representatives of a political party have chosen to...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: Instead they choose to vote for candidates they know are going to be part of the type of Whip system that is not unique to the Dáil but is a feature of parliamentary democracy around the globe.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: Any process of reform of the Whip system must not lose the benefits of our Whip system. Those commentators who claim that a Parliament free of a Whip system would be a utopia ignore the realities that in democracies with very weak Whip systems all too often the loudest and best organised lobby groups hold sway and wealthy interests who can fund their own election campaigns have an advantage....

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: We introduced an additional Leaders' Questions slot each week. We have reformed the Oireachtas committee system so there are fewer committees but they are more effective. We introduced a new Oireachtas inquiry system under which the banking inquiry is now operating. The process of Dáil reform is ongoing and although there will always be the possibility of improving the way our...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I hope you are not saying I am bad person.

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Comhaltaí de Thithe an Oireachtais) 2014: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Jan 2015)

Paul Kehoe: I ask you to withdraw it.